Online scheduling made easy
Doodle is a scheduling tool for coordinating meetings through polls. Founded in Switzerland 2007, owned by TX Group. Trustpilot: 1.9/5 from 197 reviews. TrustRadius: 8.5/10 from 71 reviews. Major complaints about March update making polls 'basically useless'.
Patterns extracted from real user feedback — not raw reviews.
The free version is plagued with so many advertisements that the page often doesn't respond. Users describe working in 'a tiny VGA window surrounded on four sides by dead space and ads'. The ad experience is so intrusive that basic functionality is compromised.
March update described as 'perhaps the most incompetent upgrade ever.' Polls now turn into events with organizer listed for every date. Users get 'there was an error trying to create your meeting' errors. Software Advice: 'the original doodle app was much better and simple, updated one is slow and confusing'.
The edit functionality needs major enhancement and has several glitches. Users struggle to modify polls after creation, and some editing features that existed before the redesign were removed entirely.
On mobile devices, users can't see the dates of options, making the core scheduling functionality broken. The new UI is described as 'utterly garbage and quite literally unusable on mobile'. This is critical since many participants respond to polls on their phones.
Calendar integration, meeting reminders, and custom branding are all locked behind paid tiers. Users feel nickel-and-dimed as features that should be basic require upgrading. Even editing polls requires payment in some cases.
Doodle reduced free timeslots from 20 to 10, forcing users toward paid upgrades. The service advertises itself as free but the free version is increasingly crippled. Long-time users report the free experience has degraded significantly over time.
Pro and Team plans require annual payment, which is not cost-effective for project-based or occasional users. There's no monthly option, forcing users to commit to a full year even if they only need the tool temporarily.
When changes are made to work calendars or participants cancel, this doesn't properly sync with Doodle. Users experience scheduling conflicts because Doodle's calendar integration is unreliable and updates don't propagate correctly.
For international scheduling, the automatic time zone detection can be inaccurate. This defeats the purpose of a scheduling tool when participants see incorrect times, leading to missed meetings.
Doodle only offers email support with no phone option. Users report slow response times and delays in getting help. For a paid product, the support experience is frustrating, especially for time-sensitive scheduling issues.
Polling concept makes group scheduling easy
The core concept of polls for finding common availability works well. About 83% of users mention that polls make meeting coordination easier than back-and-forth emails.
No account required for participants
People responding to Doodle polls don't need to create an account. This reduces friction and increases response rates compared to tools that require signup.
Lower pricing than competitors
At $6.95/month for Pro, Doodle is 31% cheaper than similar scheduling services. The Team plan at $8.95/user is also competitively priced.
Integrates with major calendar systems
When it works properly, Doodle integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCalendar to sync scheduled meetings automatically.
Users: 1 user
Limitations: Surrounded by ads, Cannot remove branding, No calendar sync, Basic editing only, Limited poll options
Users: 1 user
Limitations: Single user only, No team features, No priority support
Users: Per user (up to 5)
Limitations: Limited to 5 users, No SSO, No enterprise features
Users: Unlimited
Limitations: Must contact sales for pricing, No self-service
Project managers
Excellent for finding meeting times with multiple stakeholders. PMs use Doodle to coordinate across teams and external partners.
Event coordinators
Purpose-built for group scheduling. Event planners use Doodle to poll attendance and find common availability.
Budget-conscious occasional schedulers
At $6.95/month (billed annually), Doodle Pro is affordable. But you must commit to a full year, and alternatives like Calendly's free tier may suffice for light use.
Small groups needing simple poll-based scheduling
The core polling concept still works. If you can tolerate the UI issues and stick to basic features, it gets the job done for group scheduling.
Sales teams
Good for group polls but not for 1:1 booking. Sales should use Calendly for client meetings - Doodle is for finding group availability.
Mobile-first users
The mobile experience is described as 'utterly garbage and unusable'. If participants will primarily respond to polls on their phones, Doodle will frustrate them and reduce response rates.
Users who won't pay and can't tolerate ads
The free version is so laden with ads that functionality is impaired. If you need a genuinely free solution, try When2meet or Rallly instead.
Teams needing reliable calendar sync
Calendar synchronization is reported as unreliable - changes don't propagate properly. This defeats the purpose of an integrated scheduling tool.
Users who liked old Doodle
If you used Doodle before the redesign, you'll likely be disappointed. Many features were removed and the interface is now 'completely unusable' according to long-time users.
Common buyer's remorse scenarios reported by users.
Users who remembered Doodle from years ago paid for annual Pro subscriptions, only to find the product had significantly degraded. The redesign made it nearly unusable, but they're locked into annual billing.
Users sent Doodle polls to groups where most participants were on mobile. The broken mobile experience meant low response rates and frustrated participants, reflecting poorly on the organizer.
Users upgraded to Pro expecting reliable calendar integration, only to find that changes don't synchronize properly. This led to double-bookings and scheduling conflicts despite paying for the feature.
Users selected Doodle based on positive reviews from before the redesign. The current product doesn't match those reviews, and by the time they realized, they'd already onboarded their team.
Scenarios where this product tends to fail users.
The mobile experience is broken - users can't see dates properly. If your audience primarily uses phones, expect low response rates, frustrated participants, and missed meetings.
Doodle reduced free slots from 20 to 10. For complex scheduling with many options, you're forced to upgrade or split into multiple polls, defeating the convenience.
If your workflow depends on automatic calendar sync, Doodle's unreliable synchronization will cause double-bookings and scheduling conflicts that require manual fixes.
The edit functionality is buggy and limited after the redesign. If you need to modify polls after creation, you'll encounter glitches and missing features.
Automatic timezone detection is inaccurate. For international meetings, participants may see wrong times, leading to missed meetings and confusion.
Rallly
Rallly is an open-source, privacy-focused Doodle alternative. Users switch for a cleaner interface without ads and better data privacy.
WhenAvailable
WhenAvailable is a modern Doodle alternative with better UX and no aggressive upselling. Users switch for a cleaner, more reliable experience.
Calendly
Users needing booking (not just polling) switch to Calendly. Gain: 1:1 scheduling, automation, integrations. Trade-off: different use case, not for group polls.
When2meet
Users wanting free and simple switch to When2meet. Gain: completely free, no signup. Trade-off: basic features, dated UI.
Cal.com
Tech users switch for open-source option. Gain: self-hosting, customization. Trade-off: more setup required.
